Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to mechanisms for enhancing operation of promotion/pay-at-the-table devices that are used in restaurant and hospitality environments.
Background of the Related Art
A system of digital promotion/pay-at-the-table devices is known in the prior art. One such commercial system is the Ziosk, available from Tabletop Media, LLC, of Dallas, Tex.
A Ziosk® device typically is implemented as an apparatus that comprises, within a self-contained housing, a display, a reader, a printer, electronics, and a battery. The housing is configured to position the display to a patron seated at a serving area for order data entry, display of information, and invoicing. A server computer is communicatively coupled to the apparatus over a wireless link and is adapted to transmit a control program to the apparatus, and to transmit the information. A control program executing on the apparatus facilitates order entry, order management, point-of-sale system integration, and pay-at-the-table processing. During the payment workflow, an invoice is displayed, a payment (e.g., via credit card, gift card, pre-paid card or debit card) is received and processed, and the invoice is printed.
By implementing a system of these devices, a restaurant can track useful information, e.g., which food or beverage items are popular, what time-of-day certain items are ordered, and so forth. While such information can be quite useful (for planning and management purposes), restaurants also desire the ability to capture demographic data about their patrons, event data about events occurring at the table, and the like. Patron-specific data typically is only received during the check-out process and only then under secure conditions to ensure that credit card and other personally-identifiable information cannot be captured and maintained by the device. Without the ability to capture demographic data or table event data, the restaurant is unable to take full advantage of the benefits of having a table-side device system. Without such data, for example, it is difficult for restaurant management to focus specials, to develop food or beverage promotions and the like, to identify (and perhaps improve) the patron dining experience, or more generally to know the restaurant's client base.
It would be beneficial to provide a way for a restaurant to capture such demographic and table event data while still maintaining privacy safeguards for the patrons. The subject disclosure herein addresses this need.